cindivan

On the Apex recently they had signs at the entrance of several restaurants with their dress codes, all the ones with signs all said no hats. I would think visor qualifies as a hat. And it was enforced with us as well.

Different opinions. I think kids need rules for sure, but some independence and a safety net when they inevitably make some poor decisions. Outside of the couple times we got a 2BR suite we had separate rooms when they were teens/adults, and they have turned out pretty great. They got into way more trouble at home than on cruises!

Several years ago or then probably 16 or 17-year-old snuck out of his room after he was back for curfew. He and some friends were hanging out on the stairs talking, and security came, got their room numbers, sent them back home, and we got a letter the next morning telling us what happened and to make sure our kids stay in after 1 AM. I think it really varies by ship. Other times I know our kids have been out getting pizza at Sorrento‘s and no one ever said anything. Before anyone slams me for being a bad parent, we all agreed that they would be in by 1 AM, and I only found out about these things after the fact. I don’t share a room with my teen kids and I don’t check on them multiple times after 1 AM.

Thanks everyone! I think will take our chances in the Retreat. It seems like we usually change seats several times during the day anyway chasing sun or shade.

I am trying to decide the same thing for our group of 4. We are in suites but wondering if it will be hard to find 4 loungers near each other for a sea day. I was wondering if I could reserve it pre-cruise for the last day and cancel and get our ship credit back when we board if the retreat has good availability on the first couple days.

Are you referring to the additional $$ on RSSC, or ones you book yourself? I totally agree smaller excursions are generally so much better.

Our TA told us on RSSC we are only guaranteed first/business for the non-domestic flights. Is that not correct? Based on that, we will do book w/o included airfare. It's $7500 pp for air on RSSC which seems steep especially when the NC to west coast is not guaranteed to be first/business, and that's at least 5-6 hours. I looked at Feb 2023 and while I know prices can certainly change, we can do first/business for about $4500 per person.

Thanks so much for your replies. I was kind of thinking/hoping by it's small nature FP wouldn't be able to have very big groups, and I appreciate cwn's statement of that. Looking forward to learning more about RSSC before our cruise! Thanks for the time and knowledge.

I apologize if this has been asked/answered multiple times. I did spend some time searching previous posts on this forum but couldn't find specific answers/opinions. We are doing French Polynesia in Feb 2024 and have been waffling between Oceania and RSSC. It's the exact same itinerary, and about 5K more for RSSC, but a bigger room with a better location. (We are frequent cruisers, but only recently empty-nesters so our time/appetite for more exotic cruises beyond our normal RC cruises is finally being explored). One of my main concerns with RSSC is that my partner and I like booking our own excursions because we get so frustrated with big tour groups, waiting for everyone to get there, use the bathroom, get lost, etc. Years ago we had a day long tour to Doubtful Sound that involved big tour bus rides with lots of people and we swore off big group tours and haven't done it since. I know we could still plan our own excursions, but since many are included with the price, it doesn't seem to make sense to go in with that attitude. I know a lot of the answer is going to be "it depends." But hoping to get some perspective on what to expect, particularly in FP if possible. Thanks!

Thank you so much for all this detail! We are frequent cruisers but have mainly sailed RC and some Celebrity. Your detail was very helpful in giving me an idea of RSSC onboard life. Thanks for taking the time to provide such detail

This is yet one more reason why I don’t like booking my flights to the cruise. I don’t even put them on my online check-in anymore after they canceled the flight that they didn’t even make when our boat was coming late into port it’s great because if there are changes then the cruise line will cover them versus you having to deal with the airlines, but you are so much at their mercy when you book it through them

We have two kids, now 24 and 25 who have severe nut allergies and have cruised with them a couple times a year on average when they were younger. We inform RC in advance, then tell our MDR waiter. One of the big things for us is to always tell them we only want the white bread rolls for all of us at every dinner. That makes it so much easier than the bread selection that comes along with all the cross-contaminated bread. And as a plus we all get super warm tasty rolls In the MDR our kids will order for the next night in advance. The other restaurants have been good in general as long as you let them know when you are seated. Except, buffets. Ugh. No thanks for us. My then 16yo son who is very aware of his allergies and safety required spent most of the day in the infirmary because something was either labeled incorrectly or cross-contaminated. Not necessarily RC fault, who knows what people do with utensils.